LinkedIn Hacked

Over six million LinkedIn passwords were stolen this week and published on a Russian hackers’ forum. LinkedIn have issued an apology

“for the inconvenience this has caused our members.”

The company is taking precautionary measures to protect those whose password may have been stolen: it will be impossible to log into potentially compromised account until their owners complete the password reset procedure. The company has also warned

“There will not be any links in these emails. For security reasons, you should never change your password on any website by following a link in an email.”

Graham Cluley from internet security firm Sophos, also recommends changing the passwords on any other accounts on which you use the comprimised password.

Twitter Logo Rules

You may have noticed that the Twitter bird logo has had a bit of a revamp. What you might not have realised is that Twitter has a new Trademark and Content Display Policy which outlines their logo usage guidelines. You are no longer allowed to use any of the following:

Yes I know! It’s a bit much isn’t it? Twitter have also released a list of things you can and cannot do:

Do:

Use our official, unmodified Twitter bird to represent our brand.

Make sure the bird faces right.

Allow for at least 150% buffer space around the bird.

Don't:

Use speech bubbles or words around the bird.

Rotate or change the direction of the bird.

Animate the bird.

Duplicate the bird.

Change the color of the bird.

Use any other marks or logos to represent our brand.

The following logos are approved and can be downloaded from Twitters webite.

Starbucks offends Ireland

Starbucks has several Twitter accounts for different countries, including @StarbucksIE for Ireland and @StarbucksUK for the UK. The two accounts specify in their bios that they are located in their corresponding countries, however their tweets are exactly the same and are often posted at the same time. To the Twitter savy it seems like they are running both accounts via SocialEngage and schedule a batch of tweets at a time, which is an efficient way to plan out promotions. It is important however, to remember the differences between the two accounts, otherwise you could offend a whole nation just like they did.

Considering Ireland officially separated from the United Kingdom nearly a century ago, you can see why many people were outraged by this tweet. Starbucks posted an apology soon after explaining the mistake.

We erroneously posted to our Irish Twitter page meaning to post to the UK only. Customers in Ireland: We're sorry.

While some fans took the apology well others questioned why the two accounts were being run by one person.

Facebook for under 13s

Facebook, which currently only allows over 13s (dependent on country) to join its network, is apparently looking into how to make the platform safer for children under 13 by introducing parental controls.

Whether you see Facebook's plans as a way to make more money or to create a safer environment the issue has to be addressed. It’s no secret that thousands of under aged users are signed up to Facebook which currently leaves them vulnerable to unsuitable content as well as bullying and internet predators.

US law states that parental consent must be gained before services can gather personal data from children. With so many under 13s on Facebook this is already proving difficult to comply with. This has lead Maryland attorney general Douglas Gansler to call on Facebook to better protect children under 13:

"We would like to see Facebook create a safe space for kids to [use the network], a sanctuary, with the extra protections needed to ensure a safe, healthy, and age appropriate environment," he said.

Contray to this many campaign groups have called on Facebook not to pursue a younger audience, but instead advise parents that the site is not for children.

"We don't have the proper science and social research to evaluate the potential pros and cons that social media platforms are doing to teenagers," said James Styer, the chief executive of child advocacy group Common Sense Media.

"The idea that you would go after this segment of the audience when there are concerns about the current audience is mind boggling."

Viral Video

This song has been dominating my brain for about a month now, so what better a video to post. Here's Barack Obama singing ‘Call Me Maybe’. Since it was published on June 4th the video has received 7,908,638 views.

Infographic Time

So who are the Social Media Leaders of 2012 and how many have you used?